pleasures and prizes

Pleasure is a funny thing. Pleasure is fun and takes up and fulfills a lot of emotions. Pleasure can be something we strive for. Pleasure has many physical side effects, like adrenaline and endorphins. Pleasure can be very addicting. I feel like I often substitute pleasure for my goal. The satisfaction for winning the competition consumes me to obtain an item or a position. I have often heard from people that the prize in a contest is mostly the satisfaction of winning. What a cheap goal and exchange. This satisfaction seems almost like not a prize at all. I remember feeling cheated and having wasted my effort just for this pleasurable satisfaction. If you were to try your best in the Olympics for the satisfaction of winning and bragging rights, it would then not be a competition of the best, because the best compete for a true prize but this pleasure of winning seems to be just a side effect of obtaining the prize. In our pursuit towards God there are many pleasurable paths to take that lead to much pleasure and fancy but ultimately this pleasure and fancy exchanges with the obtainer just a pleasure for their true goal. When we seek pleasure over the ultimate prize we lose our aim and we misplace our ambition in exchange for pleasure, something that only lasts but an instant. When we (people) seek pleasure in others eyes especially in relationship(this usually is found when people try to impress others) we find that we are caught up in a very unhealthy cycle of trying to continually impress our friends or at least who we think are our friends. However how can we determine our friends when we are always on our guard? Maybe we throw around the term friend and friendship loosely but to me friend is someone who really knows you and knows some things about you that suck. Yet they still want to continue in this relationship with you. They are your friend not because they are seeking the pleasure of your approval but because the prize for them is the relationship. I feel that I have been viewing my relationship with God for the pleasure not the prize. The prize at least I think is the relationship. The idea that I can say that I know the one and true God who made everything. The pleasures of this relationship wow where can I begin. God loved us so much that he even created pleasure. Recently I have realized that even sub-consciously I seek the pleasure. I feel that the prize is not fully but only in part my now-ability to live in heaven with God for eternity if you will. But the fact that I know Him feels to me like the real grand prize. When we begin to paint our relationships with this cheap glitter and glam it looks like an out-dated circus in view of the truth, therefore I find it essential we focus on our hidden agenda and make sure we are headed in a direction that is healthy for both us and the person whom we hope to befriend and hopefully not misuse. friendship is to be pure with no alterior motive except the loving of one another.